It uses giant, gold-coated mirrors to see the universe.Įngineers inspecting the Webb telescope’s mirrors at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The temperature difference between the sun-facing and shaded sides of the telescope is more than 600 degrees Fahrenheit! The telescope’s sunshield is about the size of a tennis court. Just like you might wear a hat or a visor to block the Sun from your eyes, Webb has a sunshield to protect its instruments and mirrors. The Webb telescope’s cameras are sensitive to heat from the Sun. This animation shows how the sunshield will unfold when the Webb telescope reaches its home in orbit.

It wears a 'hat' to help block heat and light from the Sun. Stars and planets form inside those dust clouds, so peeking inside could lead to exciting new discoveries! It will also be able to see objects (like the first galaxies) that are so far away that the expansion of the universe has made their light shift from visible to infrared! The James Webb Space Telescope will use its infrared cameras to see through dust in our universe. Firefighters use infrared cameras to see and rescue people through the smoke in a fire. This light is called infrared radiation, and we can feel it as heat. The James Webb Space Telescope sees the universe in light that is invisible to human eyes. Infrared cameras can see through dust and smoke. The James Webb Space Telescope is about the same size as a tennis court and about as tall as a 3-story building! Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The telescope will unfold, sunshield first, once in space. The Webb telescope is as tall as a 3-story building and as long as a tennis court! It is so big that it has to fold origami-style to fit inside the rocket to launch. Here are some fun facts about the James Webb Space Telescope: It will also be able to observe objects in our solar system from Mars outward, look inside dust clouds to see where new stars and planets are forming and examine the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars.

The telescope will be able to capture images of some of the first galaxies ever formed. It will allow scientists to look at what our universe was like about 200 million years after the Big Bang. The James Webb Space Telescope is the largest, most powerful space telescope ever built. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (modified) An animation illustrating what the James Webb Space Telescope Looks like.

James webb space telescope